Govt still undecided when to raise fuel prices
Wednesday, May 3 2000 - 03:00 AM WIB
The government and the International Monetary Fund have reached agreement on Tuesday not to set a new deadline on when to raise domestic fuel prices, according to Minister of Mines and Energy Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
"There is no a fix deadline for the delay in the fuel hike. So it is not yet clear when the fuel price will be increased," Susilo was quoted by the Media Indonesia daily as saying.
He was speaking to reporters following a meeting with senior economic officials and team from the IMF to review the country's economic reform measures.
The government had delayed a plan to hike fuel prices by an average 12 percent starting April following mounting protest.
The last fuel price hike had helped toppled former authoritarian president Soeharto.
Susilo said that the important thing for the government now was to improve the subsidy mechanism so that it reached the intended target group.
The government plans to maintain fuel subsidy particularly for the poor families.
The government had been under strong pressure from the IMF to lift fuel subsidies, which means raising fuel prices to help ease down the pressure on the state budget.
Maintaining the current subsidy level would cost the state budget some Rp 250 billion in fuel subsidy each month.
A senior official at the ministry of mines and energy had earlier said that the government was considering to start raising fuel prices in June. (*)